


Instructional Johnlock: Building Your Story

by chucksauce



Series: Instructional Johnlock [2]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: M/M, Meta, Writing, story-building
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-11
Updated: 2013-08-11
Packaged: 2017-12-23 01:22:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/920339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chucksauce/pseuds/chucksauce
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How in the ever-loving heck does one go from plot-bunny to a fully written story?</p>
<p>Using Sherlock and John, let me explain you a thing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Instructional Johnlock: Building Your Story

**Author's Note:**

> This is unbeta'd, and I apologize if it gets a bit rambly in places. But the point of this thing is to explain the way I approach writing a story when I get a prompt/plot-bunny, using our favorite Army Doctor and Consulting detective. If there are things you'd like to add to my thoughts, or things you need clarification on, please please feel free to leave comment and let me know.

 

Since I’ve had a few people ask about this over the last few months, I thought I’d do up another bit of meta for you guys. In this one we’re going to talk about building your story, whether it be an AU or canon-compliant or anything in between. And to be entirely fair, I know there are about as many ways to write a story as there are stories written, but this is the method that works for me.

 

So let’s say you’ve got a delicious little plotbunny. In this case we’re going to take an as-yet un-published idea of mine for the purposes of ~~mockery~~ example. 

> _The Very Secret Diary of Sherlock Holmes._

How in the mess do we do this thing?

**1.) Brainstorm**  

So the first thing I do is sit down with a blank word document and I kind of meander about with all the initial ideas I have for it, as such: 

> _Why is Sherlock married to his work? What made him scoff at the idea of love? What if we saw Sherlock’s journal entries as he grows up, to get an inside view of how he went from being a vaguely average kid to a jaded, walled-off adult?_

 

**2.) Get A Little More Detailed & Start Organizing That Shit**

At this point I’d let my mind wander, and whatever scenes start popping up, I’ll write out little one-liners explaining them to myself, to keep things in order. 

  * _**01 Feb, 1987 (Age 7)** \- Sherlock gets answers from his mum and Mycroft. His mum gives him a good answer and Mycroft (who’d be 14) gives him a juvenile version of what we know in canon. We see a little kid who’s adorable and very optimistic about love._  
  * _**27 October, 1991(Age 10)** \- Questioning the fairy-tale. Beginning to really notice the difference between himself and those around him, but still hopeful_  
  * _**04 June 1994 (Age 13)** \- Outlines the chemical components of “love” and “sex.” Wonders how the whole thing relates to the classical ideas of romance/partnership._  
  * _**24 March 1998, (Age 17)** \- “Dates” a girl, and it seems to be a bad end. He chalks it up to “those differences” and the fact that it just wasn’t working for him. Also mentions that as he’s discovered this mind palace trick, he committed his existing journal to memory and is now journaling in his head. The physical copy was destroyed._  
  * _**01 March 1999 (Age 18)** \- Dates a guy. This is also a bust, because the guy is a complete idiot, boring boring boring. Decides that love as a chemical reaction is kind of a pointless endeavor._  
  * _**12 December 2000 (Age 19)** \- Details promiscuity for the sake of getting off, and how messy the whole affair is, decides he shouldn’t even bother with sex. Also? Drugs are a good idea, because they create the same chemical effects._  
  * _**18 August 2005 (Age 25)** \- Lestrade kicks his ass into turning over a new leaf. Friendship operates on the same basic principals as love, only lower doses. Finds The Work, decides it is his love._  
  * _**29 January 2010** \- Meets John._  
  * _**Maybe** some random bits about different things that happen in-canon about how his views are starting to change, but he doesn’t recognize them yet?_  
  * _**31 March 2010** \- The Pool Scene happens, and that’s when Sherlock realizes it. Oop. Insert reconciliation between brain chemicals and the general wonder of “baking an apple pie from scratch,” that lead to John and Sherlock’s meeting._  
  * _**Later** journal entry: YAY THINGS WITH JOHN AND FLUFF AND SMOOSH._



 

So I’ve got my outline. As you can tell, it’s very, very serious. 

**Side note:** If this were a more traditional narrative or a long-form story each of these “journal entries” would probably be numbered chapters, with a few sentences detailing scenes I want to happen. 

Usually at this point I’ll pull out my Post-It notes and start playing around. Since I can’t really do that online, I’ll kind of show you the next best thing (or maybe the closest approximation).

 

**3.)  Remember the Classic Story Arc**

First, I do a row of Post-Its from 1-6 that outline the basic story arc. For those of you a little rusty on grade-school structuring, it’s like this: 

> _01 - Introduction. We meet our narrator/main character_
> 
> _02 - Exposition. We meet some other characters and get a feel for how this universe works/how the characters work._
> 
> _03 - The Problem. Here comes the complication that sets our story into motion._

 

At this point I’d like to note that in longer-forms (such as novel length) you’d have a few Problems, and that each problem’s resolution somehow leads to the next.

> _04 - Rising action. What choices does the main character make to try and fix or avoid the problem?_
> 
> _05 - Climax. Here’s where that final choice either makes or breaks the character. This is the event horizon, where the main character either saves the day or fails miserably and is usually the most exciting part of the story._
> 
> _06 - Denouement/Resolution. “Denouement” is French for “unravelling the knot.” This is where we wind our story back down, and either get our Happily Ever After or not._

 

It looks something like this:

Now, I do want to make this little aside: When you look at a successful story, plot (the things that happen) and character development (how the character[s] change) go hand in hand. More action-based stories tend to only really deal with the plot-arc, but the character-arc is *really* what makes a story great. When the audience gets the chance to watch a character grow, THAT’S where the emotional attachment happens. That’s where the magic happens. 

So ideally, if you’re writing a story where there’s equal parts plot and character development, the Climax scene of the entire story is exactly the point where the main character makes a choice. 

But not just any choice! 

The Climax is where the character makes a choice he/she/ze **could not have possibly been able to make at the beginning of the story**. 

Let me say that again. **_The Climax is where the character makes a choice he/she/ze could not have possibly been able to make at the beginning of the story._**  

To illustrate that idea, let’s look at some common Johnlock tropes:

  * John is absolutely certain he’s straight.
  * John is absolutely in love with Sherlock but determined not to show it because he’s terrified of losing their friendship because there’s no way Sherlock could return those feelings.
  * Sherlock scoffs at the idea of love.



 

Now, because the Diary idea I was talking about at the beginning of the article, I’ll focus on the last one, “Sherlock scoffs at the idea of love,” because it’s a pretty common trope we’ll all recognize, and beyond that it’s the most salient to the original Diary example. 

So, if that’s the trope we’re working with, what would be the choice he has to make at the climax of our story that he couldn’t have possibly made at the beginning? 

**Easy** : He has to choose to admit to himself that what he feels for John is exactly textbook-definition love, and the exact thing he’s been avoiding since what, the age of seventeen or something? So then here’s how the plot and character development look, stretched across the basic story framework:

 

**4.) Apply That Stuff to Your Story Arc Thing.**  

Like So:

> 01 - Introduction: We meet a young Sherlock who’s curious about love.
> 
> 02 - Exposition: Sherlock shows us through a few childhood diary “entries” (or scenes) that he’s trying to reconcile the traditional/romantic notion of love with what he learns in chemistry.
> 
> 03 - The Problem: He’s finding himself unable to make that connection, and decides it isn’t for him. Basically he gives love the big “FU” and decides it’s not important.
> 
> 04 - Rising Action: Ooops, he meets John and suddenly all these weird things are happening in his brain. What? He cares more about the safety/wellbeing of another human and it makes him ridiculously happy when John praises him? WHAT ARE THESE FEELINGS HE IS FEELING?!
> 
> 05 - The Climax: The Pool Scene, and Sherlock realizes he absolutely *cannot* live without John--that oops, he LOOOOVES him. So what does he do about this? Does he tell him or does he keep it quiet? (And of course because I like happy endings he’s gonna fess up to that shit.)
> 
> 06 - Denouement/Resolution: HOW ABOUT A HAPPILY EVER AFTER SCENE EVERYBODY?!

 

So with my Post-It Notes, each of those Sherlockian plot-points becomes an sticky-note onto the column under each numbered column heading. Like this:

Pro-Tip: **Every scene choice** becomes a matter of illustrating Sherlock moving closer to that climactic moment or experiencing a setback that keeps him from getting to that goal. If you are doing a longer-form story/novel, you’d string these together in a pattern (or some semblance thereof to keep your readers on their toes. If you want good Johnlockian examples of someone who absolutely RELISHES toying with his readers’ emotions this way, go check out [bendingsignpost](../users/bendingsignpost/pseuds/bendingsignpost). This man is a genius at giving you glimpses of things that make you feel good before COMPLETELY breaking your heart scene-by-scene). 

If you want to craft a tight, well-paced story you HAVE to keep this in mind. If a scene doesn’t move your character(s) closer or further from that goal, then it’s superfluous and your readers will know it. It will be a waste of your time and theirs, and that’s when everyone starts to get bored and complain that the story gets rambly. 

I mean seriously, I’m saying this as someone who wrote a novel and felt absolutely certain I needed to keep an entire three-page scene where a girl made ramen while waiting for her girlfriend to show up. Did she have an interesting insight during this ramen-making process? Nope. It was literally just her making ramen, and nothing more. And you know what? _That scene was a waste of everyone’s time._  

So how does that apply to building our story? This is when you start fleshing out and stringing those scene ideas together, which we just did with our little pseudo-sticky-notes. So what next?

**5.) Wash, Rinse, Repeat**

Keep going through this process with the sticky notes, adding details where you need them on a sticky note in every place you want to make sure you don't forget. You can add lines of dialogue that you want to happen, or particular images you want to describe, or whatever-the-hell is making you excited about writing this story so that YOU DON'T FORGET IT BECAUSE SERIOUSLY THAT FEELING IS THE WORST.

Personally, I don't add a whole hell of a lot of detail at this point, because I really like being surprised with where writing a scene takes me. It leads me to changing later sticky notes, or throwing them out entirely, but I'm okay with that. It really just depends on whether or not you want to arrive at the end of your story via a very detailed road map, or a series of landmarks. People do their road-tripping both ways, and that's fine. How do you like to get there?

Also to note, the cool thing about doing all this with the sticky notes is that you can physically move them around and rearrange them as you need to. Plus? If youv'e got that shit up on a wall, it's a bright and colorful reminder TO DO YOUR WRITING. And then it also means people will see it and ask, "Dude, why the fuck do you have 87 post-its plastered to your kitchen wall? And why does that one just say, "Butt-sehcks?" 

Most importantly, the cool thing about the sticky-note system is that if you start each writing session just listening to whatever magical playlist you're using, and looking over your wall of stickies, it can be incredibly helpful for getting you into the magic writing headspace. It's sort of like a meditative thing for me that takes me from worrying about dishes-kids-realworldbullshit to "Yay, I get to write this thing today!" in a really timely fashion that doesn't allow me to get distracted by tumblr or 4334325435 other things.

So you get your wall all nice and pretty. I mean it's a gorgeous array of colors and nonsensical phrases that only you can decipher. What happens next?

 

**6.) You start writing those scenes, man. That’s it. You write those scenes.**  

Keep in mind, if you’re really fresh to the game, that all scenes break down to this:

> **(At least) Two characters in a space together.**
> 
> **Character A wants something from character B.**
> 
> **Maybe character B also wants something different from character A** (but that’s a little more complex, so save it for later if you need to).
> 
> **Actions and conversation happens where the characters either disagree or agree.**

 

That’s it. That’s a scene, in its barest bones, okay? 

One of my favorite exercises for scene-building is this: _Character A approaches Character B and demands a something. Character B does not give it to them. Character A storms out of the room._ Come up with as many ways to explore that structure as you can. Stretch it into long, convoluted arguments; make the entire thing happen only through body language. Make the argument as concise as possible. Play with the give and take between the characters. 

Because seriously? That’s a scene that is compelling and involves conflict, which is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY for stories. If your writing has no conflict? You’re writing a fluff drabble. 

There’s nothing wrong with that, but understand, it’s not exactly a story. It’s a quick little flash of happiness that may pick up your reader, but doesn’t necessarily keep them wanting more or drive them to wonder “what happens next?” (Which is another article entirely, but I digress. And trust: I love fluff drabbles just as much as the next fic reader.)

 

**7.) What The Fuck Do I DO With All These Scenes?!**

Usually I string together 3-4 scenes (or roughly ten pages) in a chapter, because that's how my writing works out when I'm doing chaptered work. If yours are longer or shorter, that's fine. But the way I look at it, each chapter is sort of like a short-story inside the big story. So the end of it happens when you arrive at that cliff-hanger place (especially as you get closer to the climax, make those cliffs higher and higher). It's hard to explain, exactly, but the more you do it, the easier and more intuitive this process becomes (and until then, a good beta will be able to help you here).

So what do you do when you’ve got all your scenes written out and strung together in chapters like a fancy-ass pearl necklace?

 

**8.) Find out next in Instructional Johnlock #3: Editing.**

See you next week! :D


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